Never In A Million Years
by Obscura Pure
Summary: What If Harry had jumped from the Astronomy Tower? How would everyone react to his death? A 'What If' fic to Worse Than The Apocalypse.


A/N: Hello everyone! As promised, this is the 'What If' sequel of Worse Than The Apocalypse. I made this one much more angsty than WTA, I'm kinda proud of how this turned out! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

Never In A Million Years

Chapter 1

Harry suspected it was the end of the world, everyone knew Voldemort was coming to Hogwarts in only a matter of time and the tension between students was overwhelming. That's why Harry had left the common room, to get away from everyone questioning him about the upcoming war. They all had been acting quite strangely around him, anyone in their right minds could see that. He wished everyone wouldn't depend on him to fight the whole war, he was only capable of so much. But they didn't understand that, they only saw the Boy-Who-Lived, not Harry Potter. Did they care about him? Nope, they only cared about who was going to save them from being blown into oblivion.

Harry sulked up the Astronomy Tower stairs, toward the roof. Once he reached the peak of the Tower, he sat on the edge of the roof, his feet dangling down the incredible drop. "If I jumped there'd be no more Golden Boy for them to depend on." he said quietly.

'I should.'

"I don't think that's a very good idea, Harry." spoke a voice from the doorway. Harry turned.

"Professor Dumbledore!"

"Harry, tell me why you would want to end your life."

"I'm not sure. It's just everyone depending on me, with no help whatsoever, they just want me to save all their lives and then they'll leave me to rot, alone. It's like that's all I'm good for. They don't realize that I have feelings and a life too, either that or they just don't want to know that. It hurts me to think they don't care about me, that I'm just something to be used then be thrown away." Harry finished, sighing.

"You know all that isn't true, Harry. We all care about you, even Draco Malfoy, I daresay. We would not want to use you. But if you still want to cease your existence, then don't let me stop you. If it's what your heart wants you to do, it's what you should do." With that the Headmaster disappeared to let Harry think over what the elder had just said.

Harry thought over everything for well over an hour, sitting there, feet dangling over the edge where his life was also hanging, near the end. Whichever path he decided to take, it would affect the Wizarding World greatly. If he decided to live he would have to have a heavy burden resting on his shoulders until he fulfilled the prophecy that was bound to him even before he was born. But, if he jumped, Voldemort would have full control of the world, free to do what he'd like but Harry would be able to see Sirius again and meet his parents. Finally, Harry made his decision. He stood up, looked down at the long drop and took a deep breath...

Hermione awoke quite early, as she did every morning. She started her daily routine, getting dressed, going downstairs into the Great Hall, grabbing a piece of toast and walking outside for her morning walk by the lake. This morning was no different than the rest of her days until she opened the doors and stepped out into the cool, spring air. Something was different...no birds chirping, no animals scurrying around, everything was deadly silent.

She walked soundlessly towards the Quidditch Pitch, not knowing why; something was drawing her there, when she saw it...or more like him. There was Harry, lying lifeless on the grass. She gasped and dropped her piece of toast she was about to take a bite out of, and it landed near Harry's mess of black hair. She stared down at his emotionless, empty, emerald eyes, not able to move or speak. Her knees became weak and she fell beside the savior, picking up his head in her arms and cradling it. She sobbed quietly, silent tears falling down her cheeks like a river breaking from a dam.

She stayed like that for a while, she knew most people were up and eating breakfast in the Great Hall, without a care in the world, while she was here, holding their only escape from Voldemort. She quickly quieted her sobs when she heard the Slytherins, mainly Malfoy and his crew, walking down to Hagrid's cabin for Care Of Magical Creatures. She heard them approaching her, being the curious group they were. Suddenly, a shriek pierced through the air, obviously sounded by Pansy, and then chaos ensued, "Potter's dead!" she screamed to the rest of her house and the other Gryffindors. Everyone began panicking and rushed over to see the ebony haired boy's corpse.

A crowd formed around her and she could faintly see Snape pushing his way through the large group of students while Dumbledore followed. "What's all this commotion about?" Snape asked, annoyed but when he noticed Harry in Hermione's arms he paled slightly. The last thing Hermione saw was Snape ushering the students to their classes and the distinct twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes.

"Mr. Weasley, I must ask you to leave now, you may see Miss. Granger when she awakes and I'm afraid...Mr. Potter won't be waking up anytime soon. I'm sorry..." This was the first thing Hermione heard when she woke up. A stray tear escaped as her worst fear was finally confirmed. Then Madame Pomfrey noticed Hermione had regained consciousness, "How're you feeling, dear? You've been out for six days, it's the tenth today."

"That means the war is going to start in three days!"

"Yes, we didn't think you'd wake up by then. And...oh I'm so sorry, Mr. Potter is gone."

Hermione looked up at the nurse, not really seeing her, as her vision blurred and tears began running down her face freely. She wiped them away quickly and got out of bed. She ran from the Hospital Wing and up to the Astronomy Tower, sobbing loudly the whole way.

She dragged herself towards the edge she knew Harry must've jumped from but stopped when she saw the silver, wispy fabric of James Potter's former invisibility cloak and a note. She bent down and picked up the note while holding Harry's cloak in her arms as if it would turn to dust in moments. She inhaled deeply before reading the letter:

_Ron and Hermione,_

_I'm very sorry about doing what I did, but I had my reasons. I couldn't stand knowing everyone depended on _me, _and me alone, to win the war against Voldemort. That burden had been resting on me since before I was born, and was quite content on staying there. With that reminding me, everyone else also would always question me on what I would do in the war, to stop Voldemort. To be honest, I hadn't thought about it a bit, most nights I wouldn't even sleep and those that I did were spent having nightmares. _

_Early this year I had also had dreams about Sirius, which made me wish it had been me to fall behind the veil rather than him, he didn't deserve it. I had also wanted to see my parents, never knowing them had hurt me a lot, they'd had died for me after all. I know I'll be happier and I hope you all understand what it was I was going through. Once again, I'm deeply sorry, I'll keep an eye on you and I'll tell my parents and Sirius you said Hello. _

_I wish you luck in the war and my best regards towards what the future will bring for the two of you, hoping it will involve you together, I love you all very much and I hope I'll see you again soon. _

_Harry._

Hermione stayed silent. She stared at the students in the Great Hall, their sympathetic faces, some crying quietly, some staring into space, inside mourning for the Boy-Who-Once-Lived. She made her way to her table, keeping her eyes ahead of her so she would not see the tearful faces of her peers. She sat down beside Ron and began eating her dinner quietly, no one spoke in the Hall, you could hear a pin drop and even then it would be very loud.

Hermione battled hard days later, fighting for her deceased friend, but failed. The dark side had won the war. The light side cowered away, as Voldemort and his followers soon began taking over the Wizarding World, bit by bit. Taking people captive and murdering them. No one was safe anymore, no one except the Death Eaters. Once taking over every part of the Wizarding World, over all the continents, the dark side moved to the Muggle World. People weren't able to go outside anymore, the world being taken over so quickly. Voldemort had been through Canada and the United States in less than two weeks.

Hermione sat in the bedroom of her tiny flat in Surrey, assuring herself that something would stop Voldemort, but she knew it wasn't true. She only wished that the Hogwarts students hadn't been so selfish and maybe then Harry would've stayed. But she knew Harry would never be able to come back, never in a million years...

A/N: There it is, probably the darkest of my fics yet. Please review and tell me what you think, I love getting feedback so I can improve my stories! I hope everybody liked it! Oh, and I've decided this isn't going to be a one-shot so check for updates! Thanx for reading!

Nicole


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